LifeFLOW digitarium lets you play with electronic creatures, as they move about their environment and evolve. A digital vivarium is essentially a virtual terrarium or aquarium. You can play with LifeFLOW on any web browser on a computer, tablet, smartphone, or any other device.

With special thanks to Avril Olachea and Dr. Adrian Bejan for art and inspiration, and gratitude to everyone who has contributed directly or indirectly.

Currently LifeFLOW works best in Firefox. It does work in other browsers, although we'll want to do further testing to improve compatibility. If you encounter any questions or comments, please get in touch! :)

Wow! :)
Looking back on LifeFLOW development so far, while looking forward to the upcoming version 1.0 release, it's amazing how far we've come already! :)
When I first started jotting down some notes, I had several inspirations in mind. A few include an idea from when I was younger and wanted to make a more biologically inspired game world to illustrate Darwin's ideas, as well as Conway's Game of Life, which is more mathematical. I suppose this falls somewhere in between, as a physics game instead of biology or math.
Today we have the following:
That already reflects a good chunk of the initial vision. Of course, there are still tons of features and creatures to improve to make it closer to that ideal, and the ideal itself evolves as we make progress. Anyways, it's quite heady to create and watch the birth and development of this fun life game!!! :)
Rock & Roll!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

This version introduces several new creatures, including a couple of variants of LifePath. The latter have different looks than previous creatures, and in one case even eat and mate! :) (Or, get eaten and reproduced...) We also now have some improvements to the game functionality..

We are now at the dawn of a new age in aquariumming, if that's even a word, and LifeFLOW is at the epicenter of this evolution.

The big change is from analog to digital aquarium. Both contain living beings. Both are fun. Both are miniature reflections of the awesome beauty of nature. Yet one of them costs a lot more, to you and to the environment, and the other one brings a whole new level of interest.

Extreme costs: the predator fish hiding behind the treasure chest toy

An aquarium is a fun hobby or toy for kids, and something you see in seafood restaurants or at watery theme parks. At least that's what the Big Fish industry wants you to believe. When we take a peek behind the fake plants, what we see is an altogether different kettle of fish.

When we start adding up the costs of the container tank itself, the fish, the lights and filters, the pH and ammonia test kits, the heater, the thermometer, the replacement bulbs and filters, the food and medicine, the stand, the gravel, the plants (fake ones or biological ones), the algae scraper, and the little scuba diver mannequins, the costs skyrocket. And that's still just for starters. Once we add in the electricity and water bills, and all the time spent cleaning and maintaining the fish tank (not to mention flushing dead fish down the toilet), and the huge toll on the environment from all that water and electricity and plastic and metal and other chemicals, and of course the poor plight of the unfortunate fish, this is no longer a fun and easy hobby. This is a complex and expensive fish prison.

And in addition to the financial costs, just picture all those dozens of gallons of water, and the extra production of electricity and plastic and other resources for an aquarium and all the accessories. And then all those times that you have to clean the tank, feed the fish, and flush a dead fish down the toilet and explain to your child why you just did that and where the fish went. And of course the poor fish themselves don't fare too well in all of this:

Because fish can not verbalize their needs and we are not able to 'touch' them, as well as the fact that many people consider fish as lower life forms, their welfare is often neglected. The old adage "if a fish dies we'll just get a new one" has no business in the language of the modern fish keeper. Study after study has shown that these creatures possess advanced nervous systems and feel pain and suffering just as much as their mammalian counterparts. If potential aquarium owners are not willing to acknowledge this and are not committed to the fish's well being first and foremost, then they are not ready to keep fish. An aquarium should not be viewed as a decoration but as a living, biological environment that provides a healthy, safe refuge for the fish that live there. A well maintained, healthy aquarium becomes an object of beauty. A poorly maintained aquarium is an eyesore and the cause of death for the unlucky fish inhabitants.

Something smells fishy here.

LifeFLOW digitarium: the natural choice

Introducing the all new LifeFLOW digitarium. It’s a virtual aquarium, like an aquarium but instead you can run it on an existing computer, tablet, or even your telephone! And all you have to do is go to the website! :)

By contrast with a traditional, old-fashioned, conservative, analog, over-the-hill aquarium, LifeFLOW creatures live easily and robustly. Our resilient little flowers move about freely, for a fraction of the cost -- to the environment and to your wallet.

Let's take a closer look. Going back to our previous selection of factoids, we can now add one more:

Cost estimate for a small fish tank (a medium one can cost at least double): $571.50

Cost estimate for yearly electricity for a small fish tank: $494.50

Cost estimate for a LifeFLOW digitarium: $0*

* We recommend making a contribution and you can purchase various improvements, all for a tiny fraction of the cost of a fish tank.

And then, of course, a LifeFLOW digital creature does not need to be fed flakes, or thrown in the toilet. An entire LifeFLOW digitarium runs in a web browser on any computer, tablet, or even a phone. You don't even have to buy new hardware, and the electrical costs are trivial. You can upgrade any time. You don't need to pump dozens of gallons of water, and filter it, and learn how to use all of that expensive equipment. And you don't have to imprison poor little fish.

Furthermore, in addition to all the cost savings, we're constantly introducing new features. As you read this, amazing new functionality is in the works. It's super-rad. And we're still just getting started with tons more to come! :)

For the environment, for your wallet, for fishkind, for now and for the future! :)

Conclusion: Now is the time to go digital

If you take only one lesson away from this position piece, let it be this: now is the time to go digital in the aquarium game.

By the way, everything you just read here applies also to a terrarium, insectarium, or any other kind of expensive old-fashioned thing ending in -arium. Except perhaps for a planetarium. Just substitute "land animal", "insect", or whatever for "fish", and the article should read fairly well. Although I guess no one flushes ants down the toilet. Well, maybe some people do. Anyways.

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Introducing the coolest new creatural additionz over at LifeFLOW!!! :)
The extral complemens the ultral, and together they make for a fun team! :)
Watch as the extral chases other creatures (including other extral creatures) about the play area! :)
You can check out a representative sample at LifeBANK, and you can play with them yourself at LifeFLOW! :)

As we work our wayz up through improvements in LifeFLOW towards more creaturez & featurez, here we present a couple of new creature species, now available for your playing pleasurez! :)
Introducing a variety of shapes for the organisms of this new rectangular species, and a characteristic short-and-fat profile for this more advanced species! :)
LifeFLOW also features various improvements to the user interface and documentation.
Please play and enjoy, and let us know how we're doing!!! :)

Check out the sweet new lifeflowmachine1! :)
It may be hard to notice from the camera angles, but one of the balls falls into the tube, while the others reverse their flow and head back uphill! :)
YouTube: